Australian Open 2012

Nani Nana

Why judging the greatest player ever purely on the numbers of Slams?

Because it suits the Federer fans.

There's so much more to tennis than grand slams won. Take grand slams lost for instance. Does Rafa not deserve some credit for his defeat today? For me the greatest ever is not Federer, because his mentality makes it clear he would never have been able to step up and supersede two monsters like Djokovic did after being stuck at World no.3 for a record 91 weeks. Federer would have given up in the face of so many frustrating defeats.

Mick1991

As a neutral with no allegiance to any player, it is fecking terrific to watch. Two blokes just giving their all, it's amazing.

Kudos to Djokovic, at one time it looked like Nadal was going to steamroll Federer' 16, but then this guy shows up and makes it interesting to watch again.

Kevin

Check my older posts, I do not agree with Federer being the best ever (Sampras is )... at all. I find him arrogant and quite lucky to have been in his prime during the Roddick/Hewitt days... and no guy who gets dominated this hard by his direct rival deserves to be the title of the best ever.

But there is something to be said for the amount of grand slams won, as long as I've known tennis (since I was 10), the majority of the 'tennis scene' will hold onto the amount of slams won as the barometer for the greatness of a player. Sampras was obsessed with going past 13 and this is a guy who knew every bit of tennis history/records... he knew the importance of being the holder of the most slams.

If Djokovic completes a true grand slam in the modern era and gets around a total of 12 slams though...

championo

early favorite for post of the year.

amolbhatia100

So did nadal bottle it when up a break in the fifth? I think people are often too quick to jump on the bottle bandwagon regarding some players. Federer doesn't fist pump and gesticulate so people think he's in turmoil mentally at times. Murray apparently bottles it everytime he loses. Basically its just a case of ignoring all the factors that go into deciding games.

And djokovic constantly beating nadal just goes to show thaet sometimes anothers just matches up well against yours. I don't think nadal has any mental issues against djojovic at all. It's just that the new and improved djokovic counters nadals gameplan very well. Goof thing for nadal is that he isn't on the wrong side of the 20s either. His age being almost the same as djokovic means that time isn't against him in fighting back in the rivalry.

wr8_utd

There were certainly no mental issues today. As for last year, I think there were.

BaldwinLegend

Agree with this. The only thing that slightly spoils it for me is Djokovic's tendency to introduce gamesmanship into a contest that's otherwise the most insanely good sporting rivalry.

Agree with Amol too - if Murray's a choker then so is Nadal. And there's no way that Nadal is a choker.

Murray's incredibly unlucky that his peak years look like coinciding with one of the great tennis eras. He's just going to have to hang on and hope he's still got the energy to win when Djokovic and Nadal's current brilliance subsides.

United Fan 101

I'm not accusing anyone of prematurely calling Djokovic the GOAT, or future GOAT but it's very hard to go past judging the players on grand slams won.

For me, Federer is the best ever. Those who point to his record versus Nadal - I think you can level any player gunning for GOAT with one weak point or two, that's the nature of it. It's not just Federer. You can do the same to Sampras, for example.

Let Djokovic overtake Nadal first, then we'll talk if he gets to 16.

RDCR07

No. He is at 14 and Fed is at 16. Novak is at 5 and Nadal is at 10.

wr8_utd

It's been quite a while since the match ended and I still can't get that missed backhand down the line out of mind. The moment the match changed..

Nani Nana

Now you know what it was like being a Djokovic fan for three years

Oh, that easy smash missed on a set point against Federer in the 2007 US Open final. Oh, those two match points against Nadal in Madrid.

CheadleBeagle

It's funny that Nadal has trouble with Djokovic, Nadal can beat Federer and I still think Federer has a better chance to beat Djokovic than Nadal. They all have strengths and weaknesses that make the match-ups so different.

Kevin

So how has this been received in Serbia? After such an epic way of winning another Grand Slam, surely he has to be considered a national superhero now or something?

Nani Nana

He's been a superhero there for a while. In the past absolutely no one played tennis in Serbia, it was way less popular than football and basketball (did you see Vlade Divac in Djokovic's box during the final btw ?). Now absolutely all the kids play tennis, even when they don't have a tennis court at their disposal

Yesterday his win was celebrated in the streets of Belgrade, alongside those cheering for the Waterpolo team that became world champion, and the Handball team that lost at home in the final to Denmark.

adexkola

I heard vuc was orchestrating celebrations in Belgrade, bare chested

vuc

I hear what you are saying.

In terms of number of slams, it will be tough, very tough to make that level. In terms of complete dominance, he is on the way to being up there IMO. It's not inconceivable to think he could do get all 4 slams this year.

What's most impressive about the win is the fact that he managed to beat Nadal in 5 sets which is something nobody thought he would do. If I am Nadal, I am thinking 'wtf can I possibly do to win?' Especially given the fact he played a 5 hour match in the Semis vs Murray.

vuc

No, way too fucking cold for that.

ILBB15

Some legendary expressions right there. They're both great!